


Envy

by Coalmine301



Category: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Dark Padmé Amidala, Gen, Off-Screen Murder, Possessive Padmé Amidala, Unhealthy Relationships, no beta we die like assholes, sir those are my emotional suport itallics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:28:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28355460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Coalmine301/pseuds/Coalmine301
Summary: Anakin loves with his whole heart, and he loves many people. Too bad Padme isn't too keen on sharing her husband.
Relationships: CT-21-0408 | CT-1409 | Echo & CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker
Comments: 4
Kudos: 39
Collections: Randomness





	Envy

_“A boy’s first love will always be his mother.”_

It was a some-what common saying on Naboo. Uttered by midwives and gossipers alike. 

Oh how Padme hated that saying. Hated it even more that it was likely true. 

She loved her husband and she could tell how much he loved back. With his words, his actions, his embrace at night. 

But as much as he loved her, Padme knew it would never measure up to his affection for that former slave on Tatooine. 

Admittedly, it wasn't Shmi herself Padme despised. The Skywalker woman was always kind and welcoming, not to mention great company. 

Rather, it was her space in Anakin’s heart that made her gut roll. One of many spaces that should belong to Padme and Padme alone.

And so Shmi must die.

It was on their vacation to Naboo when an idea came to her.

Tatooine was a very dangerous place. And even though Shmi had been freed from her chains and living comfortably, doesn't mean she was truly safe. After all, there were still the tuskens to worry about…

Padme wasn’t too surprised when their stay on Naboo morphed into a mad dash to Tatooine. Anakin was so powerful in the Force, no doubt he’d sense his loved ones in danger planets away. And it was the love he felt that forced him to move, to try and save them. No matter the danger.

They were too late, of course. The tuskans had long since left their campsite. All that was left behind were dying embers, day-old bantha tracks, and the tortured form of a woman on death’s door.

That night Anakin broke down against her shoulder. He wept until his body had nothing more to give, crying himself to sleep in her arms.

And Padme grinned, absorbing Shmi’s love for herself. 

While she wasn’t too fond of the methods, the brunette couldn’t really deny she was happy with the results. With Shmi gone, in one fell swoop Padme had ensured she would always come first in his heart. That nothing else would matter in his eyes.

Or so she thought… 

_“Two sides of the same coin.”_

_“The invincible team. The Team.”_

_“Closer than brothers. More intimately than lovers.”_

Padme’s gut rolled at each title or poetic phrase the anchors used to describe her husband and Kenobi. They certainly seemed to love talking about the duo, what with their faces plastered across the finest propaganda the Republic had to offer. 

Kenobi and Skywalker, Skywalker and Kenobi.

And as much as the senator was loath to admit it… it could very well be true. Even as a padawan Anakin would come visit her apartment, four out of five times he talked about Obi-wan. Just watching them it was clear how much the two cared for each other.

“Wherever Kenobi goes, Skywalker is sure to be not far behind.”

Perhaps, such a bond went beyond friendship…

Padme angrily clamped down on those thoughts, attempting to banish them from her mind. Anakin would never betray her like that. He had pledged his heart to her, sacred words uttered on that lakeside on Naboo. 

But even if it wasn’t romantic, he loved Kenobi and it was clear the bearded man felt the same. _Brothers in all but blood,_ her husband had once said. 

Once again Padme felt pure, unbridled envy curl in the pit of her stomach. 

She was only guaranteed to see her husband -her husband!- in bits and snatches, usually months apart. And yet this insufferable Kenobi rarely went a day without spending some time at the blonde’s side. 

No, Obi-wan simply took too much room in Anakin’s oh so finite heart. Perhaps as much or even more room than Padme did. And that simply wouldn’t do.

So Kenobi must die.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_‘Anakin, help me!’_

The blonde jumped as a familiar voice screamed through his mind. The training bond they never bothered to sever screamed with pain. 

In an instant Anakin was on his feet, reaching for the other end. _‘Obi-wan?’_

_‘Anakin!’_ The redhead screamed back, mental voice outlined with agony.

_‘Where are you?’_

Horrifyingly, Anakin could feel Obi-wan’s Force presence dim. _‘Lower… lower levels… hurry!’_

The blonde took off running. With every footfall he pushed himself harder, faster, outright sprinting to the hanger. 

Anakin almost drove away before he was even seated. His speeder was nothing more than a blur as he raced through Coruscant's crowded 

Already the bond was beginning to unravel in his mind. Frantically he clutched at it, desperate to not let it break. It merely slipped through his hands like grains of sand.

_‘I’m coming, Master, I’m coming!’_ Anakin shouted through the bond. _‘Just hang on, I’ll be right there. It’s going to be ok. I promise.’_

__

__

_‘Anakin,’_ the finality in Obi-wan’s voice caused the blonde to pause. _‘I’m so very proud of you... my Padawan. There is no one… I’m prouder… to call… my brother.’_

__

__

_‘Don’t you dare say that,’_ Anakin snapped. _‘Don’t say that like you're dying!’_ The speeder groaned around him, protesting the speed it was forced to travel.

Logically Anakin knew it was foolish to rush in as he was. It could be an ambush, waiting to catch him as well. Whatever danger Obi-wan was facing could easily turn and attack him as well. 

All possibilities examined and quickly discarded as irrelevant. Like hell was he going to sit by and let his best friend, his brother, die!

Yet even he had to admit it was looking more and more likely with each passing second...

_‘Anakin-’_

__

__

‘No, I will save you! Just hang on a little longer, it’s going to be ok. You’re going to be fine!’

‘I love you, Anakin…’

The bond snapped. Anakin screamed.

He was too late.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fives and Echo were the ones who found him. 

The duo were just leaving pub #3, the name long since forgotten, when something caught Echo’s eye. Some kind of pale colored fabric in the shadows of a dark, unsavory alley. With the contrast of bright neon lights and impenetrable shade, it was hard to make out many details.

Fives paused his ramble, realizing his brother wasn’t paying attention. “What, am I so boring that you zone out in the middle of-”

“Look over there,” Echo interrupted, nodding in the fabric’s general direction. 

Fives frowned. “What do you think it is?”

“I don’t know,” the other clone replied.

Carefully, he took a cautious step towards it. The shape not moving, Echo took another. And another. And another. Fives followed cautiously behind. After all, where one went the other was likely to follow. 

“Do you think it’s a body?” He asked, whispering right by Echo’s ear.

The other frowned. “You’ve been watching too many crime holos.”

“Hey, it’s a possibility,” Fives shrugged defensively

By now the two could hear the buzzing of flies gathering around something. At this distance Echo realized the shape was a leg, ending in a red leather boot. The rest of the form was obscured by shadow.

The clones exchanged a wary glance.

“Poke it.” 

“Why me? You poke it.”

“No, you poke it.”

“I’m not poking it, you poke it.”

“Oh, for the love of-” bitting off a curse, Echo stepped up to the mysterious leg. He gave the boot a jab with his own, unsurprised when it didn’t budge. “It’s probably just some drunk.” 

“Do drinks usually wear Jedi tunics?” Fives countered.

Echo blinked. Tunics? Now that he was looking, what little he could see of the figure’s clothing looked kind of like tunics… he supposed. Well, to be fair, he wasn’t exactly an expert on Jedi dress code. He supposed the color matched, at least.

Fives crouched down, taking a firm hold on the ankle. A quick tug was all it took to drag the corpse into the light.

Both clones leapt up with a yelp, amber eyes widening with horror. Echo could feel bile rising in his throat. “Dear stars...”

Grime gathered under the corpse’s blunted nails. Azure eyes stared at nothing. Crimson spilled from chapped lips to stain an auburn beard. Dark, finger-shaped bruises warped around a pale throat.

But Echo hardly recognized those details. Instead his attention was drawn to the general’s chest… or rather, what was left of it. Quite simply it had been torn open, the slender shapes of broken ribs glinting in the low light. Where his heart once rested was now a hollow, bloody void.

Whoever had killed General Kenobi had done so with a vengeance.

“Echo?” Fives asked, his voice uncharastically scared. 

Echo swallowed dryly before forcing himself to move forward. He reached out a dark hand to shut vacant eyes. It didn’t really do much, the carnage remained the same, but at least now Echo could pretend the death was painless.

The clone blinked a couple times, trying to dispel the pressure building in his eyes. This shouldn’t have happened. Death was expected every time one set foot on a battlefield. But not on leave, not on Coruscant- the planet floating in its own bubble of safety. Seemingly separated from the war and all that wished her inhabitants harm. Seemingly. 

Kenobi died alone and in pain on the one planet he had truly thought was safe. And no one knew. No one saved him.

After a long moment Echo straightened, turning to face his brother. Fives met his gaze almost steadily, waiting for whatever course of action the other would come up with.

“Comm Cody,” Echo instructed, hoping an even tone would conceal the churning turmoil he felt underneath. “The 212th should find out from a friend.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Padme glared down at the gouges on her forearm. That fool Kenobi had not gone down without a fight, managing to score a defensive wound or two before his time came.

Luckily they shouldn't be permanent. All the Senator would need to do was slap a bacta patch on her arm and all evidence of the struggle would be gone within 

And if she wore long sleeves and gloves, everyone would be none the wiser. 

But none of that mattered right now, for her husband was finally home. 

Anakin stood in the middle of her living room, a lost expression in his gaze. Padme wasn’t worried. He had worn that look before, on a moonless Tatooine night. It had disappeared eventually and should do the same thing again.

“My dear,” she breathed, throwing on a mask of concern.

He whipped around to face her, relief briefly lighting up those beautiful sapphire orbs. “Angel.”

He was in front of her in an instant, muscular arms wrapped around her deceptively thin frame. It wasn’t long before her shoulder was wet with his tears.

The brunette gently wrapped her own arms around him. Slender fingers combed through dark blonde locks. 

“My dear, what’s wrong?” Padme asked, expertly faking ignorance. Of course she knew exactly what was “wrong”. It was key he never learn just how happy it made her. Nor her involvement in that tragedy.

“Obi-wan,” Anakin replied, his lovely voice muffled by her dress. Whatever following words were swallowed by a gut wrenching sob. 

“Ani?” She asked. “Is he hurt again? Is he sick?”

Anakin shook his head, throat too closed up to let words escape. 

Padme let manufactured concern and fear “accidentally” slip past her shields. “Ani? Ani, what’s wro-”

“He’s dead,” her husband choked out. 

Padme froze in his arms. Her Force presence lit up with shock, horror, denial as intensely as any non-Force user’s would. 

“Ani, I… I’m so sorry.”

The blonde’s grip tightened on her back. “I couldn’t save him…”

Manicured hands pressed his head against her shoulder. A solid pillar of comfort and support, keeping the blonde from collapsing under his own weight. And he leaned on her as sob after sob tore through his throat.

Unseen over his shoulder Padme grinned, her eyes flashing a slithly yellow.


End file.
